Eating vegan, running long distances and being 20-something.

6/17/18: Phi Phi Makes You Koo Koo

I tried to go for a run, but I was unsure where to go since this island is so tiny. I first ran to Long Beach, going through beaches and random tracks along the way. Once I got there, I turned back and ran to the main pier by Ton Sai town.

Long Beach

I went all the way through town to the other end of the pier, ran across the gross beach (Log Dalum), and ran back to the hostel. I totaled about 6.5 miles, which was more than I expected to be able to do on the island.

Amanda and I went into town for breakfast: I picked up a soy milk latte, pandan bun, a coconut/banana smoothie, a coconut patty (that I shared with Amanda), and an ear of corn. I didn’t really mean to eat as much as I did, but I was really full after. Perhaps it was a bit too much food.

We laid down for a bit in our room before heading out to check out a new beach called Ao Koh Moo Dee, which was about a 45 minute trek away. The walk there was pretty easy; we mainly stayed on paved roads. This island is strange, though. There’s a the main town, which is full of shops and restaurants and bars, then up in the hills there are a ton of poor villages with families living in shacks up, and then when you come back down to the shore there are fancy resorts.

Looking down to Ao Koh Moo Dee beach

The beach was riddled with tourists, mainly Chinese but also a few westerners as well. Everyone was in their own world, having their own little Instagram photoshoot. It went on for hours. There was one mom who was just constantly taking photos of her sons playing in the sand, working so hard to get the perfect shot. It was cute, but also a bit sad.

All the touristsThe devoted mom

All the commotion around us was entertaining, but I wish it was a bit more quiet. I guess secluded beaches are not really a thing on Phi Phi.

We left around 12, just as it was beginning to get windy and stormy. We got up to the top of the hill when it started to rain. We saw a resort nearby, so we ran in and took cover just as the storm really picked up. It was pouring for a while, with winds gushing, making the trees sway like crazy and spreading leaves and branches everywhere. We sat down and waited for the storm to pass, but even after an hour it didn’t seem like it was ending any time soon.

We wanted one of the resort trucks to take us back. We saw one leaving, so we asked if we could hop in, but they told us it was for the hotel guests only. Oh.

We sat back down and waited.

Around 1, we decided to just make a run for it, figuring we could handle it for the 20-minute walk back.

We managed not to get too wet since there was a clear path back and the rain wasn’t as bad anymore.

The pier was crowded with people trying to get on boats. It made me wonder: Where were they going? Why are they trying to get on some tour boats right now? They’re not going to be able to do anything fun on any of the other islands, so it didn’t make sense to me.

Just a few people

We went straight to Only Noodles to get food since we were hungry. This time we went with the big noodles again.

We got back, showered, and decided to get a beer at Banana Bar. When we got there, we saw that their happy hour was going to begin in an hour. We decided to just get convenience store beers and drink them on our balcony until happy hour.

On the way, I saw packaged fruit displayed in front of one of the restaurants and it made me crave some fresh fruit.

We went to our usual lady down by the cheap food street and bought papaya, mangosteen and some coconut treats.

We ate our snacks on the guest house balcony and left around 4:20 for beer time.

Banana Bar’s rooftop was really cool, and so big. It had two stories— the first story had a beer pong area, a stool seating area, a big cushion-seating area. The next floor up had more seating and a nice view of the beach.

There was a group of Irish girls playing beer pong and drinking buckets. At 4:30 pm. It made me feel so old and boring.

When we left for dinner at 6:30, the wind started picking up and we knew a storm was coming— that’s how they all start here. We started running, hoping to make it to the restaurant before the inevitable pellets.

We quickly ran into 7 Eleven and got two beers and kept running. We got to Khun Niyom just before the storm really hit. Yay!

I got mushroom curry, which was more like a soup, but it was good.

We wanted to contribute to the wall of words left by customers past, so we wrote “Great veg options” and “Gr8 tofu” (because the tofu is truly phenomenal here). I’m glad we left a mark on our favorite Phi Phi restaurant.

We went to Dubliner Pub for drinks, and caught some of the Costa Rica-Serbia game. The same bartender as night one was there to make us her amazing mojito buckets.

We sat down next to a random guy who asked us where we’re from.

“The U.S.”
“Oh sweet, same!”
“Where in the U.S.?”
“Philly! And you?”
“She’s from California, I’m from Maryland. But I went to Penn State!”
“Oh, no way! So did I! I played hockey there.”

He went on to tell us that he had to drop out because he fractured his spine, and has been traveling ever since. It’s been 7 years. He’s been in Phi Phi for a month, helping out at a bar by handing out free shots. I can’t imagine living here or really just aimlessly traveling for that long… I tried not to judge, but it just didn’t seem like the most ideal situation.

There were so many young people just making out with each other, clearly drunk out of their minds. It reminded me of frat parties at PSU, and it really grossed me out.

A couple Aussies came and sat across from us. We were all chatting, when out of the corner of my eye I saw someone squirting a bunch of water on another girl. I thought it was weird, but I assumed they were friends and just playing around. Moments later, I saw the girl get up and run at the other girl. It was one of the Irish girls from Banana Bar.

They girls were yelling at each other, shouting obscenities and attempting to hit each other. The bar completely stopped the music, so everyone’s attention turned to the girls. Fittingly, the song playing was “The Real Slim Shady.”People in the back of the bar were whistling and egging them on. After a few minutes of the kerfuffle, the girl who had squirted the water left with her friends, yelling, “PUTA! PUTA!” at the Irish girl.

We asked the Irish girls what happened, and they said the other girls just randomly squirted them unprovoked. It’s so funny, but also quite embarrassing, when girls try to fight. But it’s so crazy that in the two nights I’ve been out here, I’ve seen two fights. This island is a shitshow.

The German vs. Mexico game started, so we stayed to watch it for a bit.

Amanda met another American, who happened to be from Brooklyn, in the bathroom. We all sat together and chatted. He lived a few blocks from me in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Crazy! What are the odds?

We left to go to Slinky’s, but there was basically no one there. It was strange, since it was so busy 2 nights ago. We were walking back to Dubliners when someone came up to me and asked me if I had emailed him.

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re Anna, right?” He asked.

“Yeah…” I replied slightly sketched out.

“I’m from Blano!”

Oh! It suddenly all clicked. I had emailed them earlier to ask them if they wanted to collaborate with me on their boat tour.

He asked me if the whole collaboration-inquiry thing usually works.

“Yeah, usually companies are pretty receptive.”

“Oh, well we’ve had people with millions of followers promote us for free, so we don’t usually….”

He paused to find the right words.

“… collaborate with random people like me?” I filled in.

“Yeah.”

Well, ok. I tried not to be offended, but that was pretty rude and unnecessary to say.

He took us to Blanco Bar, but they were playing bad music, the place was full of sloppy youngsters, and I was annoyed at him so we left.

The power went out as we were walking, so we decided to just go home. The entire town was dark, so there as no reason to go back to a bar.